Plus One
by TB80
Summary: Aubrey Posen loved weddings. After all, there was a lot to love. The flowers, the cake, the catering. So many details to keep track of, and at the center of it all the bride at her wits end, needing hours upon hours of support and reassurance. Billable hours. So yes, as a wedding planner, Aubrey loved weddings. Until she received an invitation to her sister's wedding and saw the dr
1. Chapter 1

Do you ever do something, and know immediately that it is almost certainly a terrible idea? Me too! Welcome to my latest work in progress.

I swore I wouldn't post anymore WIPs, since my track record is, shall we say, less than perfect when it comes to completing them. I also have far too many in various states of completion littering my hard drive. It's a problem. However, impatience, boredom, the hpe that actually posting one will get me to focus, and desire for external validation are a deadly mix, so here we are. While I DO have an outline and a pretty good idea where this train(wreck) is going, the devil is always in the details, so I won't even hazard a guess as to what a posting and update schedule may look like.

I'm flying without a beta/editor on this one, so I apologize in advance for the likely grammatical and typographical errors. This is my first foray into the PP fandom, so I would love to hear feedback; good, bad, or you should really just pack it in and go back to napping and playing video games (I'm a little partial to that last one).

**Chapter 1**

"I'm not going," Aubrey declared, throwing the open invitation onto the kitchen island with a dramatic flourish.

Chloe gave her a chiding look and set her coffee cup down to grab the offending piece of paper. "You can't skip your own sister's wedding."

"Why not?" Aubrey complained. She refused to call it a pout; those were Chloe's domain. "She hates me anyway." Aubrey pulled out one of the bar stools and flopped down with a sigh.

"Aubrey, your sister does not _hate_ you." Aubrey looked at her doubtfully; Chloe barely even knew her sister. "She doesn't!"

Aubrey crossed her arms over her chest. "If she doesn't hate me, then why didn't she ask me to plan her wedding. Or even be _in_ her wedding." Aubrey made the point with a smug smile. Being right only slightly reducing the sting of the knowledge that her younger sister apparently wanted nothing to do with her.

"I'm sure she had her reasons," Chloe offered.

"I'm a professional wedding planner!" Aubrey exclaimed, throwing her arms wide. "Does she have any idea how insulting it is not to even be asked?"

Chloe tipped her head to the side. "Would you have done it?" Chloe knew that Aubrey had a someone what complicated relationship with her family.

"That's not the point," Aubrey protested. "She didn't even ask."

After college, Aubrey had been at loose ends, not sure what she wanted for her future. College was done, but for the first time in as long as she could remember, she had no plan. Aubrey always had a plan. She had spent a year working as a retreat coordinator at her family's lodge in Georgia. It wasn't what she had envisioned for herself, but she was good at it.

Aubrey had settled into a comfortable routine when Chloe had visited one weekend, and thrown her life into chaos. Chloe had seen through Aubrey's facade of happiness in a matter of hours, and had insisted that if she wasn't happy she should leave, and find something that she was truly passionate about. By the end of the month, Aubrey had packed her bags and was crashing with Chloe in Los Angeles.

She promised that it would only be for a little while; just until she could figure out what came next. The days turned into weeks, which turned into months, and one night, tipsy from too much wine, Chloe had declared they should go into business together. Chloe was working for an event planner, and while she liked the work, she hated her boss.

Even the amount of wine swimming in her system couldn't keep Aubrey from worrying that this would be a terrible idea. Their friendship had almost fractured their senior year in college when the two couldn't agree how to best lead their collegiate a cappella group. How on earth could it survive working together?

In typical Chloe fashion, she had waved off Aubrey's concerns, insisting that they had worked through it, and now they knew they had to listen to each other, and compromise. With Aubrey's obsessive attention to detail, and Chloe's ability to charm everyone, they were destined for success.

Aubrey hadn't been convinced, so she held out.

For an entire two weeks. Eventually, Chloe had worn her down, and Aubrey found herself agreeing to what she was sure would be the end of their friendship. Only it wasn't. Annoyingly, Chloe had been right, and they had built up a fairly solid reputation for themselves.

"I'm sure it wasn't personal," Chloe said, patting Aubrey's arm consolingly. "She is all the way on the east coast, and we have been positively slammed. She probably didn't want to stress you out."

Aubrey huffed, shaking her head. Normally she enjoyed Chloe's unflagging optimism; needed it to stay sane on some days. Sometimes, however, she just wanted to wallow and have someone agree with her that everyone and everything was awful.

Where was Beca when you needed her?

Aubrey shook her head. She wasn't that desperate. It wasn't that she _hated_ Chloe's girlfriend. It was just generally better if the two didn't spend a lot of time together. Beca was laid back, and sarcastic, and everything that Aubrey wasn't. Sometimes she wondered how Chloe could consider two such very different people such close friends.

Well, obviously Beca had the whole sex thing going for her. A line she was very happy she and Chloe had never crossed. Not that her friend wasn't attractive, but Aubrey suspected they would be a disaster in a relationship. A belief that she felt had been proven correct when Chloe met Beca and declared her the love of her life within days.

Aubrey had dismissed the claim at the time; Chloe was naturally friendly and open and was constantly getting crushes on people. However, after three years, and no signs of cracks, Aubrey was willing to admit that maybe she had been wrong. Maybe.

About them lasting. Not about the fact that they never would have worked as more than friends. If someone like Beca was the love of Chloe's life, no way would she have been happy with someone like Aubrey.

"Who are you going to take?" Chloe asked, tapping the invitation with a fingertip.

"What?" Aubrey asked, looking at Chloe in confusion.

"There's a plus one."

"What!?" Aubrey yelped, snatching the invite out of Chloe's hands. She started down at the seemingly innocuous line of text with a scowl."Proof!" Aubrey cried, holding the invite aloft. "She totally hates me. She knows I'm not seeing anyone."

"I'm sure she just wanted to give you the option of a date."

Aubrey glared at Chloe. "She also knows that I don't have time to date."

"No, you don't _make_ the time to date," Chloe muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Aubrey asked sharply, even though she had heard exactly what Chloe had said.

"You've shut yourself off," Chloe said. "You need to make an effort to get out there and meet someone. Be open to love."

Aubrey rolled her eyes. This was well tread territory between the two of them. Every since Chloe had found her "soulmate" she had been determined that Aubrey experience that type of happiness for herself. It wasn't that Aubrey _wanted_ to be alone, but she didn't have Chloe's natural charm, and her dates didn't tend to call looking for a second.

The few that made it past the initial phase, and became what one would almost call a relationship, usually fizzled when they realized just how intense and demanding Aubrey could be. She didn't want to die alone, but she had come to recognize that she may just be a bit too much for most people. She had made her peace with it.

Aubrey looked down at the invite once again with an accusing glare. She just wished her family would do the same. Much like Chloe, her mother and sister couldn't seem to resist asking if she had "met someone yet" every time they talked.

"Well, this just seals it," Aubrey decided with finality. "Now there is definitely no way I'm going. I refuse to spend a whole weekend being the subject of endless questions, and pitying looks about why I'm still single, and can't even manage to find a date."

"You can't skip your sister's wedding. You're mother would kill you, and you know it." Chloe had a point. Aubrey's father may by the General, but her mother was the truly scary half of their partnership. "We'll get you a date," Chloe declared eagerly. A little too eagerly in Aubrey's opinion.

"I know I haven't had the best of luck lately." Or really, ever, but who was keeping track? "But I refuse to pay for a date."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking about hiring you an escort." Chloe looked at her speculatively. "Although, it may be better to-"

"Absolutely not."

"Fine. No escorts," Chloe promised. "But that wasn't what I was talking about anyway. Beca has this friend-"

"I've changed my mind. I'd rather take my chances with an escort."

"-that I've been wanting to set you up for a while," Chloe continued, ignoring Aubrey's interruption with an ease born of long practice. "I think you two would really hit it off. But every time I bring it up you say-"

"No."

"-that," Chloe said, pointing to Aubrey with an accusing finger.

Aubrey shook her head. "I'm serious, Chloe. No setups." Chloe looked at her pleadingly, but Aubrey remained firm. She wasn't Beca. She was immune to Chloe's sad puppy look. Mostly.

"At least meet her," Chloe implored.

"I'm not that desperate." Okay, maybe she was that desperate, but she was hardly going to admit it. She had been the subject of her family's well meaning, if annoying and misplaced, concern for years. Surely she could manage to suffer through one more family interrogation session. "What would I, and a friend of _Beca's," _she injected every ounce of scorn she could muster into the name," even have in common anyway? The two of us have nothing in common."

"You guys have me in common," Chloe pointed out brightly.

"A fact that will never ceases to baffle me," Aubrey replied. "No. I would rather go alone than have to explain how I ended up with a grumpy, sarcastic, tattooed, flannel clad girlfriend."

Chloe frowned. "Not that there is nothing wrong with _any _of those things," Chloe insisted, compelled to defend her girlfriend, "but Stacie isn't anything like that."

"I don't care if Stacie is a supermodel sex goddess," Aubrey replied. She shook her head again, resolute. "There is no way I'm letting you set me up with a date for my sister's wedding."

* * *

When the silence of her office was broken by the sound of her desk phone ringing, Aubrey reached for the handset blindly. Her attention was on the fine details of the Morrison-Stillwell contract. Her salad, barely eaten and already forgotten, shoved to the far corner of her desk.

Aubrey had seen too many weddings fall apart in the eleventh hour, and while that was sad, she refused to be punished for it. If she, Chloe, and their team, put in the work, Aubrey expected the contract to be honored. Wedding or no wedding. Managing the details of the ceremony on the day of was, in some ways, the least of what they had to do. If they put in the work, they were damn well getting paid.

"Aubrey Posen." Her greeting was short and to the point. There was no need to waste time on pointless, empty pleasantries. Chloe did all the face to face work with clients. Anyone calling her office line was either a vendor, or one of her employees. Neither of which warranted more than a matter of fact greeting. Aubrey could still put on the face of a smiling southern belle, but she preferred to avoid the artifice, unless she absolutely must.

"Why haven't you sent in your RSVP yet? What's going on?" The caller didn't identify herself, but then, she didn't have to. Aubrey would recognize her sister's voice anywhere. Aubrey cursed silently to herself, and dropped her pen, the contract that had so absorbed her just moments before already forgotten.

"Nothing is going on," Aubrey dismissed with a laugh. She hoped it didn't sound as forced to her sister's ears as it did to her own. "Work's just been crazy, and I haven't had a chance to drop it in the mail."

"It's not like you to take so long to respond," her sister insisted suspiciously.

"Monty, it's only been a week!"

"My point exactly! I should have had it days ago. Unless something is going on."

"Nothing is going on," Aubrey repeated.

"Look, if this is about the plus-one, mom insisted. I knew it was a bad idea, but you know how she can get when she has her mind made up." Indeed, Aubrey did. Even General Posen knew that retreat was often the only option when his wife, Vivian, had set herself upon a course of action.

"It's not about the plus one," Aubrey lied.

"I told her that a weekend wedding is not the type of thing you can just bring a casual date to," Monty continued on, as though she hadn't heard Aubrey. It was quite possible she hadn't. Vivan Posen wasn't the only one that could get tunnel vision. "And that since you _obviously_ weren't seeing anyone, it just didn't make sense to include a plus one."

Something about the certainty in her sister's tone rankled. Aubrey had heard it before of course; one of her family's favorite pastimes was lamenting Aubrey's seemingly permanent singlehood. It wasn't even that her sister was wrong. She wasn't seeing anyone; hadn't even been on a date in ages. But her sister didn't have to sound so...so _sure_ about it. As if the very idea was absurd.

Something inside her snapped when she heard the utter conviction in her Monty's voice. Fortunately, she had outgrown her rather unfortunate childhood habit of projectile vomiting when put under immense stress. Unfortunately, she still opened her mouth and made an absolute mess of things.

"Actually, I am seeing someone." Aubrey barely refrained from clapping her hand over her mouth, or looking around to see who had said that, because surely it hadn't been her. Chloe was the one prone to spontaneous outbursts, not Aubrey.

"Oh my god! Really?! Why didn't you say anything?"

Aubrey jerked the phone away from her ear, waiting for her sister's excited squealing to die down before bringing it back. "That. That right there is why."

"How long have you been dating? Is it serious? How did you meet? Is she pretty? What does she do for a living? Is she going to be able to make it to the wedding? Tell her I'll never forgive her if she misses it."

Aubrey rubbed her forehead, feeling the beginnings of a tension headache forming. This was all Chloe's fault. If she hadn't put the ridiculous idea of finding Aubrey an imaginary girlfriend for the wedding, she never would have said something this stupid.

"I don't know yet," Aubrey said, trying to buy time for her brain kick into gear and get her out of this mess. "That's um...that's actually why I haven't sent the invite yet. I wanted to wait until she could give me a definite answer."

"I _knew_ there was a reason," Monty said accusingly. "Why haven't you said anything?"

"You really have to ask that?" Aubrey said incredulously.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Monty asked, sounding slightly wounded.

"Does the mini diatribe you went on like...oh...30 seconds ago ring any bells? I already have Chloe in my life. I can only deal with one desperately over eager, over excitable puppy in my life at a time."

"I'm just happy for you!" Monty insisted. "At least tell me her name. You owe me that much."

"Stacie, her name is Stacie," Aubrey said, grasping onto the name desperately. She may not have complete control over her mouth when emotionally stressed, but at least her memory was still as sharp as ever.

"Well, make sure you tell Stacie that I look forward to meeting her."

"I told you. I'm not even sure if she's going to be able to attend. Her work schedule is almost as hectic as mine, and she isn't sure she can clear her calendar." It may be a complete fabrication, but Aubrey figured it would sound believable. Anyone that Aubrey Posen dated would have to have their life together, and a dedication to their career would be a major component.

"Of course you managed to find another workaholic." Aubrey could almost see her sister roll her eyes over the phone line. "No excuses," Monty insisted. "I expect both you, and Stacie, not just at the wedding, but for the whole weekend." Aubrey heard silence, and then the rapid fire tapping of keys. "There, it's done."

"What's done?" Aubrey asked suspiciously.

"I've filled in the RSVP form for you and Stacie," Monty informed her gleefully.

Aubrey rubbed her eyes, which suddenly felt like they were throbbing. "Monty, I'll do my best, but I can't promise anything…"

"Well, I hope your best includes you showing up, because if not, you will have Mama to deal with."

"What are you talking about?" Aubrey asked, a sinking feeling of dread forming in the pit of her stomach. "Mama doesn't know anything about this, and you aren't going to tell her," Aubrey threatened.

"Too late," Monty said breezily. "I told you. I filled in the RSVP."

It took a moment for Aubrey's to connect the dots, but once she did, she vowed to kill her sister the next time she saw her. "And you have Mama set to get RSVP alerts."

It wasn't a question. There was no way Vivian Posen's baby girl was getting married without her having her finger on the pulse of the entire proceeding.

Monty laughed. "Yes. So, like I said...tell Stacie I can't wait to meet her. Love you!" The line went dead, and Aubrey replaced the handset absently back into the cradle.

She was so screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

Aubrey hurried down the sidewalk, sparing a quick glance at her watch to confirm the time. She was late. She was never late. The ten minutes she had spent deliberating if she was even going to show up were probably a contributing factor.

She was still silently debating with herself if she had lost her mind for agreeing to this, when the sign for the restaurant came into view. Her steps faltered, and she came to a stop. She dimly heard the muttered curse of the person that had been walking behind her, but she was too distracted to offer even a half-hearted apology. If she was going to bail, now would be the time to do it. Drawing a deep, steadying breath, she moved forward.

Posens didn't run.

Decision made, she resumed her march forward with her head held high and shoulders back. She may be about to make the biggest mistake of her life, even bigger than the time she had let Delia Reynolds talk her into that spiral perm in middle school because Aubrey thought she had a nice smile, but she refused to show up looking as defeated as she felt.

She was just meeting the woman. It's not like she was obligated to actually take her to the wedding. She could just go alone. It would be fine. Her mother would get over it. Eventually.

Entering the restaurant, Aubrey slid her sunglasses off, and spared a tight smile for the hostess. "I'm supposed to be meeting my friends. Last name Beale."

To say that Chloe had been excited when Aubrey had called her about getting Stacie's contact information would be a massive understatement. Chloe was always happy and upbeat, but this had been on another level altogether. She had been over the top ecstatic.

Chloe had insisted that she and Beca be present, and Aubrey hadn't fought her. Not even the Becca part. Truthfully, she was thankful for the buffer. This meeting was guaranteed to be awkward enough already. The fact that she knew that Beca would be almost as miserable as she was, was the one small, silver lining to this whole awful situation.

"Your party has already arrived. If you'll follow me." The perky blonde turned, grabbed a menu, and started to lead Aubrey through the crowded dining room. Aubrey almost told her not to bother; there was no way she was going to be eating anything. She may have outgrown her unfortunate childhood (mostly) stress vomiting phase, but she wasn't one to tempt fate.

Aubrey spotted Chloe first. Her red, wavy hair standing out like a beacon in the crowd. Her eyes scanned quickly for Beca, but the only other person sitting with Chloe was a stranger. A very attractive stranger.

Aubrey frowned.

"You made it!" Chloe exclaimed happily, when the hostess pulled out the chair and motioned for Aubrey to taker her seat. Aubrey remained standing. "Aubrey, this is-"

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Aubrey cut her off quickly, glancing toward Chloe's companion before darting her gaze away. "Alone."

Chloe frowned, but nodded, sending an apologetic smile towards her brunette dining companion. Once Chloe was on her feet, Aubrey grabbed her arm and dragged her a short distance away. There wasn't much room to maneuver, as Chloe had insisted on meeting at one of the most popular brunch spots in town.

"What is the matter with you?" Chloe hissed, trying to keep her voice low. "First you're late, something which you _never_ are, and then you drag me away from the table before I can even introduce you? Why are you being so rude?"

"I told you no escorts," Aubrey hissed back.

Chloe recoiled, looking at Aubrey in confusion. "Who's an escort?"

Aubrey laughed, humorlessly. "Right. As if _that's _Beca's friend. I may be desperate, but I refuse to _pay_ for companionship. That would be the only thing potentially _more_ humiliating than the situation I'm currently in."

"That _is_ Beca's friend," Chloe said, annoyed. "That's Stacie Conrad."

Aubrey peeked over Chloe's shoulder, and saw Stacie looking back at her with a small smirk. Aubrey looked quickly away, feeling exposed by the amused look in the other woman's eyes. "_That's_ Beca's friend?" Aubrey asked, disbelief coloring her tone.

"Yes," Chloe confirmed. She crossed her arms. "Why are you finding that so hard to process?"

"Because she's," Aubrey floundered, looking for the right word, "gorgeous. And hot. And Beca is...well, Beca."

Chloe smacked Aubrey on the arm. "Excuse you. That happens to be my girlfriend."

Aubrey shook her head. "You have to admit she," Aubrey motioned her head towards where Stacie still sat," is a bit of an outlier from her friend group." Aubrey had had the misfortune to socialize with the people Beca considered friends on a few occasions. None of them were anything like the woman waiting for them back at the table. The table, Aubrey saw, where Beca was now sitting and talking to the other woman.

She sighed, admitting defeat. She could acknowledge, even if only to herself, that maybe she had just been looking for an excuse to call this whole thing off.

"Let's go back to the table," Aubrey said, abruptly. "I don't want her to think I'm rude."

"Little late for that I think," Chloe muttered.

When they arrived back at the table, Beca looked at Aubrey, one eyebrow slightly cocked. "Posen, you decided to show up after all. I guess I owe Cynthia Rose twenty bucks."

Aubrey bit back her instinctive desire to snap at Beca. It was pretty much reflex at this point. Instead, she smiled tightly, pulled out her chair, and sat down. "Sorry I was late. Traffic on the 405 was an absolute nightmare." She chose to ignore Beca, she didn't deserve an apology, and directed her attention instead toward Stacie.

Stacie smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "No worries. Chloe has been keeping me stocked with mimosas, so I'm in no rush."

"Aubrey, this is Stacie." Chloe belated introduced them. "She's the one Beca and I have been _trying_ to set you up with for months, but you keep saying you're too busy. Thankfully, she has chosen not to take offense, and is still willing to help you out."

"To be clear, I had nothing to do with this," Beca interjected. "I want nothing to do with potential matchmaking schemes. This is all Chloe." Beca pointed her finger at Chloe accusingly. "So when it all blows up in your faces, which, I fully expect it will, because really, how can it not, make sure you direct all blame and complaints to her."

"Nothing is going to blow up," Chloe protested. She smiled reassuringly, a little _too_ reassuringly, at both women, and for one of the first times that she could remember, Aubrey found herself agreeing with Beca. Aubrey was sure this could only mean one thing; this was going to be a disaster.

Stacie didn't seem to share her trepidation, since she was smiling, seemingly without a care or concern in the world. Then again, who knew how many mimosas she had already had while waiting.

"It'll be fine," Stacie said with a dismissive wave. "It's not like we're promising to spend our lives together. It's just a date." Stacie took a sip from her glass. Aubrey made a mental note to flag down the next waiter she saw. Just because she didn't plan to eat anything, didn't mean drinking was off limits.

Aubrey thought about correcting her; this was not a date. However, since the other woman hadn't actually agreed to help her yet, she decided it may be best not to risk correcting her. "Chloe explained that it's not just the ceremony right? That my sister has this whole wedding weekend planned?"

Stacie nodded. "She filled me in." Stacie leaned forward, giving Aubrey a front row seat to her impressive cleavage. If she was looking. Which she absolutely was not.

This woman was potentially going to do her a favor. It was little more than a business transaction. Though, not an _actual_ business transaction, because then they would be back to the whole escort thing. No. It was just a favor for a friend. Well, a friend of a friend, but regardless, it would just be asking for trouble to let her long dormant sex drive out of the deep freeze.

Aubrey realized she was still staring and jerked her eyes upward. To her mortification amused green eyes were smiling back at her. Shit.

"The full weekend, Thursday to Sunday, won't be a problem?" Aubrey pressed on, determinedly. "I hate to have to ask you to miss work." Aubrey's regret was sincere; she hated missing work. At the same time, hoping the woman actually _had_ a job. One could never be too sure with Becca's friends. Half of them were self-styled "musicians" that Aubrey was pretty sure had never worked a day in their lives.

"Not a problem," Stacie said again. Aubrey wasn't sure if she was envious or annoyed by the woman's laid back attitude. At the moment, she was leaning toward annoyed. "I'm self employed, so I can shift things around if needed."

"Oh, that's convenient," Aubrey said with a slightly forced smile. Great. This was LA, where 'self-employed' was often code for 'unemployed'. Aubrey bit back a sigh. Beggars can't be choosers, and it wasn't like this was a real date.

"It has its perks," Stacie said with a smile. If Aubrey didn't know better, she would almost think the other woman was flirting. When Stacie ran her eyes over Aubrey deliberately, Aubrey began to think maybe she didn't know better. She really hoped the other woman wasn't expecting a hookup out of the weekend. Casual sex wasn't really Aubrey's thing. Or, lately, any sex.

"See, it's like it was meant to be." Chloe clapped happily, looking between the two of them like a proud parent.

"Oh yeah, a regular love story for the ages," Beca quipped. "Something they can tell their kids."

"Would you both stop," Aubrey snapped, at the end of her tether. This whole situation was stressful enough without Beca being...well, Beca, about the whole thing and Chloe looking between Aubrey and Stacie with hearts practically shooting out of her eyes.

"Stacie has _kindly_ offered to do me a favor." She turned and mustered a smile for the other woman, who was looking at her silently, lips slightly pursed. "Something for which I am extremely grateful."

Aubrey turned her attention back toward her friend. "However, that's all this is." Chloe shoulders drooped, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. "Chlo, I know you mean well, but your excitement really isn't helping."

Chloe opened her mouth to protest, "I was just trying to-"

Aubrey held up a hand, cutting her off. "I know. I really do. But I really need to just focus on getting through this. I appreciate your help, truly, but please, can we just...not...turn this into something more than it is?"

Chloe looked like she wanted to argue, but finally, she nodded her head in resignation, shoulders slumping. Beca wrapped her arm around Chloe's back, rubbing her hand up and down her arm comfortingly, and shot Audrey a dirty look. Chloe leaned into the touch, resting comfortably against her girlfriends side.

Aubrey took in the action and felt a twinge of envy. As much as Beca sometimes, okay, often times, got on her nerves, her devotion to Chloe was unquestioned. It almost made the small brunette tolerable. As much as Chloe adored her, Beca adored her back in equal measure. So, no matter how much the other woman could test her patience, she would always love her for that.

Unless, of course, she ever hurt Chloe, and then Aubrey would happily kill her, bury the body, and never give it a second thought.

While Beca did her best to quietly cheer up her pouting girlfriend, Aubrey turned her attention back toward Stacie, who was looking at her appraisingly over her half filled mimosa glass. Seriously, where was their waiter?

Aubrey felt a slight stain of embarrassment heat her cheeks. "Sorry, I didn't mean to go off like that. I'm just still trying to wrap my head around this whole situation. It's all very strange, and I'm a little stressed out about how all this is going to work. I don't like unknowns."

Stacie shook her head. "No need to apologize. It's a lot to take in." Stacie put her glass down, running her ringer idly around the rim of the glass. "Can I ask you something? Feel free not to answer."

Aubrey hesitated a moment, before nodding. If Stacie was willing to pretend to be her girlfriend for a weekend, Aubrey figured the least she could do was answer a question.

"Why are you doing this?" There was no censure in her tone, only genuine curiosity. "Why not just tell them the truth?"

"Pride?" Aubrey sighed. "Or maybe stupidity?" Aubrey blew out a frustrated breath. "I was prepared to tell my sister that I wouldn't be needing the plus one, but then she just sounded so, so _confident_ that there was no way I would need it, that I just snapped." Aubrey smiled ruefully at Stacie. "I may have been known to make rash decisions when I'm angry."

Stacie grinned at her, eyes full of mirth. "Like making up a girlfriend that doesn't exist?"

Aubrey laughed, nodding her head. "Yes, exactly like that." Aubrey paused. "God, I don't know what I was thinking. Actually, that was the problem. I wasn't thinking. I was reacting." Not seeing a waiter anywhere in the vicinity, Aubrey grabbed Chloe's mimosa and took a large sip.

"Don't get me wrong. My family loves me, and they mean well, but sometimes…" Aubrey shook her head. "Sometimes they drive me to the edge. I know they have my best interests at heart, and they just want to see me happy, but they act like being almost 30 and single is some horrible, tragic, illness. I've tried to tell them that I'm _fine, _but they just won't listen. I just wanted to be able to go to one family gathering where I wasn't the object of well meaning pity and concern."

Aubrey looked at Stacie, embarrassed at having spilled so much personal baggage on this virtual stranger. "I'm sorry. You must think I'm crazy."

"No, not at all," Stacie said immediately. "I think you sound like someone that is frustrated about not having her family listen to her. We all have our break points, and this one was yours."

Aubrey considered Stacie's words. "I never really thought of it that way before," Aubrey admitted. "That's very insightful."

Stacie tipped her head to one side in a one shoulder shrug. "Occupational hazard." Seeing the question in Aubrey's eyes, Stacie answered, "I'm a therapist."

Aubrey's eyes widened fractionally. Aubrey almost wished she were actually unemployed after all. "Oh god, you really do must think I'm crazy."

Stacie laughed, shaking her head. "I don't. I promise. Plus, we don't really use the_ c-word_ ," Stacie teased gently.

Aubrey flushed. "Right. Sorry."

Stacie waved off the apology. "No need to apologize. It's a common turn of phrase. And I promise, I really don't think you're crazy. Was the decision a little rash and impulsive? Sure, but sometimes it can be good to shake things up every once in awhile and keep yourself from getting complacent. To just act without thinking. Let your instincts take over."

Aubrey nodded, looking at the other woman thoughtfully. "Is that why you're doing this? I mean, I know why I'm agreeing to this ridiculous plan, but why on earth are you?"

Stacie shrugged, taking another sip from her glass. "It sounded like fun."

"Fun?" Aubrey questioned her incredulously. "You think attending the wedding of the sister of a total stranger, on the other side of the country, all while pretending to be her girlfriend sounds fun?"

"Sure," Stacie replied easily. "It's not something I've ever done before, and like I said, it can be good to shake things up every now and then."

"Still, this seems a little extreme. Can't you just get like...bangs or something?"

"The Hunter gets bored easily." Aubrey started at Beca's voice. Honestly, until she had spoken, Aubrey had almost forgotten that she and Chloe were still at the table with them. Aubrey was relieved to see that Chloe seemed back to her normal, happy self, and was once again smiling.

"The Hunter?" Aubrey asked, looking back and forth between Beca and Stacie.

"Old college joke," Stacie answered quickly. "It's _not_ important." That part was directed at Beca with a mild look of reproach.

"Did you decide?" Chloe asked, looking between the two. "You seem to be getting along okay." Aubrey tried to detect any hidden meaning behind the statement, but Chloe seemed to just be stating the obvious. She and Stacie had been getting along pretty well. Aubrey didn't always hit it off right away with new people, but she found Stacie surprisingly easy to talk to.

"I was always in," Stacie replied easily. "I'm happy to help a friend in need, and I trust that you and Beca, well, mostly you, wouldn't ask me to do something I would totally hate."

"Gee, thanks buddy," Beca groused.

"Plus, I've always wanted to see Georgia."

The three women turned to look at her, and Aubrey realized they were waiting for her to say something. Ultimately, the decision to go through with this hare brained scheme was hers to make.

"Do you prefer window or aisle?" Aubrey asked with a nervous smile.


End file.
